White Knight Chronicles Review

Date: 2/4/2010

By Jason Nimer

You probably remember the nay saying that took place in the months after the
PS3's launch. Every aspect of the system was picked apart, from the price tag to
the game library, which prompted loyalists to keep up the "Just wait for (insert
game here) and it will be a PlayStation world once again" drumbeat. Metal Gear
and Final Fantasy sequels usually filled that spot, but so did an RPG few knew
very much about – White Knight Chronicles. The pedigree of former Final Fantasy
developer all-stars, coupled with the Level-5 production house (Jeanne D'Arc,
Professor Layton) certainly seemed promising. So, finally, the game is making
like Eddie Murphy and coming to America (it's been available in Japan for quite
some time) with waves of hype in tow. Was it worth the wait? Is this the game
that was once prophesized to "save" Sony's console? Let's just say it's a good
thing that the PS3 no longer needs to be "saved," because this blah RPG won't do
much besides drive the disappointed back to the store to trade it in for
something more fulfilling.

White Knight Chronicles is, at its basest level, another "save the princess,
defeat evil" RPG. Some of the best games of all time have followed this tried
and true setup, so that isn't necessarily a negative point. What does hurt is
that the game has a rich, visually interesting setup that is quickly abandoned
in favor of MMO-style quest after MMO-style quest with no feeling of story
advancement until much, much later in the game. After meticulously creating a
character, players are tossed into a kingdom struggling for peace with its
once-hated adversaries. In an effort to rebuild burnt bridges, the king invites
his regal counterpart to a party for his daughter. A mysterious third party
enters the fray, and an ancient war machine – the White Knight – is resurrected
as the princess is princess-napped. The somewhat-tired setup is aided by above
average graphics and an interesting set of characters, but once you're past the
game's prologue, the story evaporates into thin air. It's replaced by laundry
lists of quests that if you've ever even tried an MMORPG, will be instantly
familiar. The game's conclusion brings a satisfying end to the story that you
may have totally forgotten about by that point, but it almost forgives the hours
long narrative derailment that precedes it.

As I just said, the game's visuals are fairly good. The characters are
passable by RPG character standards, but the real story is White Knight
Chronicles' environments. Even the most mundane of fields or villages teem with
life, from plants gently swaying in the breeze to NPCs merrily chatting with one
another. The only graphical hiccup is the lip-synching with the new English
dialogue. The character's lips NEVER match what they are saying, leading me to
believe that when translating the game from its original Japanese, the
developers didn't even bother to attempt changing how the character's mouths
move. At best it is a minor distraction, but during some scenes all I was able
to picture was the characters pointing skyward and howling, "Godzilla! We must
flee!"

And speaking of the new English dialogue, the voice actors do a pretty good
job. The camera/scene cuts place unnatural breaks in the normal meter of speech,
but barring some strange pauses, the voice work is excellent. The orchestral
soundtrack is also nicely done and fits the game perfectly. My only complaint
with the game's sound was one I had intended to leave out, but after browsing
some online forums I found that the problem wasn't local to my PS3 or TV hookup.
I found that about 35-40% of the times I began playing, White Knight Chronicles
had no sound whatsoever. No music, no dialogue – silence. In fact, when I was
creating my character for the first time, I had no idea that the game was
intended to have background music; I just thought it was quiet. Restarting the
PS3 fixed the issue every time, but this was a huge annoyance. As I said, I
almost didn't include this in the review, but when I found out others were
experiencing the same problem, I had to mention it.